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Ford to add 450 jobs at Ohio plant

Ford Motor Co. confirmed Thursday that it is adding 450 jobs at a northeast Ohio plant to increase production of its 2-liter EcoBoost engine.

A $200 million investment at Ford's Brook Park plant near Cleveland will allow the plant to produce 2-liter engines starting late next year for North American vehicles like the Fusion midsize sedan and Escape SUV.

"Cleveland Engine Plant was the first to produce EcoBoost engines and will continue to be a cornerstone of Ford's strategy to deliver affordable fuel economy for millions," Ford President of the Americas Joe Hinrichs said in a statement.

The engine is currently built only in Valencia, Spain. The Valencia plant will continue to make small engines for Europe, but some of its workers will be transferred to a nearby assembly plant.

Ford, which in 2009 introduced the EcoBoost series -- a marriage of turbocharging, direct-injection and twin independent variable-camshaft timing -- is in need of additional engines for high-volume vehicles such as the Fusion and F-150.

Buyers increasingly have opted for the EcoBoost engines, which offer boosts in fuel efficiency and performance but command a premium of about $1,000.

"I think the supply is basically against the wall, based on demand," said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president at Troy-based research firm LMC Automotive, in a telephone interview last week.

"As the EcoBoost technology and brand itself catches on, it is what's driving these types of decisions."

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Ford has sold more than 530,000 EcoBoost engines in the U.S. during the past 31/2 years through January and expects to sell more than 500,000 EcoBoost-equipped vehicles in 2013.

The four-cylinder is in just about every Ford vehicle but full-size pickups, and even they could have it in the future, said Scott Makowski, global design manager for Ford's four-cylinder engines.

Ford's 2-liter EcoBoost is one of five powertrain options for Fusion, a high-volume vehicle in the ultra-competitive midsize segment; the 2-liter is also an option on the Escape SUV, Taurus full-size sedan, and Edge and Explorer SUVs. It is the only powertrain offered for the sporty Focus ST.

The 2-liter could eventually rival the automaker's 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 as the most popular of the engines sold in the U.S. The jobs are a welcome boost to the Cleveland-area plant, which employs about 1,300 people and produces the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 engines for the F-Series pickup, the most popular vehicle in America.

Ford in recent years closed an engine plant and a casting plant in the Cleveland area.

Plans for Europe will create even more demand for the 2-liter EcoBoost: Ford wants to triple production of European vehicles with EcoBoost engines by 2015 to approximately 480,000.

Production in Ohio would allow Ford to better adjust for EcoBoost demand in two regions, analysts say.

"If you're in the region, it's much easier to adjust production schedules accordingly," Schuster said.

The jobs announced Thursday bring Ford to the halfway point in a hiring spurt that will total 12,000 U.S. hourly jobs by 2015.

Another investment, outlined in the 2011 UAW contract but not expected to bear fruit until next year, is a $400 million revamping of Ford's Lima Engine Plant in Ohio. Lima Engine produces 3.5- and 3.7-liter engines. It is slated to receive production of "a new industry-leading small V6," according to the contract.

Ford in January announced a smaller-displacement six-cylinder EcoBoost engine for its next-generation F-150. The truck is expected for the 2015 model year.

Ford's North American success with EcoBoost engines is best summed up by the F-150: When Ford decided to offer a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 for the pickup in model year 2011, company expectations were low. Ford now sells more EcoBoost-equipped F-150s each month -- about 42 percent of all F-150 sales -- than it expected to sell in a year.

To date, U.S. truck customers have bought nearly 280,000 EcoBoost-equipped F-150s. And some inside Ford are adamant the automaker could sell more, should production of the engines increase.